Golf:Tiger Woods insists he is neither anxious nor impatient about ending his long wait for another major. Woods, who could go back to world number one with victory in The Open at Royal Lytham, has not added to his 14 since the 2008 US Open.
“No - I just try and put myself there (in contention),” the three-time Claret Jug holder said today. “I think that if I continue putting myself there enough times then I’ll win major championships. First of all, I had to go through that whole process of just getting healthy again.
“Being banged up and missing major championships because of it in a couple of years stretch wasn’t a whole lot of fun. I think I missed four majors there just because I was injured. I figure if I’m healthy, then I can prepare properly for major championships and I can get myself there.”
Woods is back this week at the course where he finished 22nd in 1996, shooting three under par to equal the record for the lowest total ever by an amateur in the championship.
“I remember I got hot in that second round. I think I made seven birdies in an 11 or 12-hole stretch (he shot 66). I tied Ian Pyman’s record for low am and I thought that was a pretty great accomplishment.
“That Open Championship basically pushed me towards turning pro versus going back to college. I was still kind of iffy about whether I should turn pro or not. But that gave me so much confidence that I could do it at a high level, that I could shoot those scores and I could play against the top players in the world on a very difficult track.” He made his professional debut two months later.
Woods has already talked about some of the rough being “almost unplayable in places” - and he has also experienced it now in different winds. “It changes the whole golf course.
On seven (the only par five on the front nine) I hit driver, seven-iron one day and the next day I hit driver, three-wood and a wedge. It will be interesting to see how it turns out for the rest of the week.”
The British Open this week is Woods’ short term goal – his long-term one of claiming Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“I hope I can qualify,” said Woods today when asked about golf’s return to the Games after an absence of more than 100 years. “I’ll be 40 by then. It will be something that I’ve never experienced and I would love to be able to have a chance to represent my country.”
Golf, which lost out in an earlier bid to be included in London this summer, has decided on 60-man and 60-woman fields for Brazil in four years’ time. It will be the world’s top 15 and then the rankings would be used to determine the leading two players from different countries, so Woods would qualify on two counts he is America’s highest-ranked player at fourth in the world.
